Christmas 2018 / New Year 2019 bus and train services in Galway

The information below was for Christmas 2018. 

Click here for this years Christmas public transport information.

A summary of 

bus and train services 

in Galway city and county 

for the 2018 Christmas and 2019 New Year period.


This is based on information published by the bus companies, and may change.
  Always check the services you want to use with the bus company.

Galway Christmas Park and Ride service, 2018

A park-and-ride service will be in place in Galway City for the Christmas 2018 shopping period.

It will run on selected days between Saturday 1 December until Monday 24 December, and is being operated by Callinan Coaches on behalf of Galway City Council.

Galway bus and train fare increases from December 2018

December 2018 public-transport fare increases for Galway have been announced by the National Transport Authority.

Full details are in the determination document, which is available here.

These fares apply from 1 December 2018, for the 2019 calendar year.

Monthly and annual ticket prices will be applied during November for tickets that will be used from December.

The Galway City Bus Fares page will be updated with this information shortly.

Extra early and late buses on Burkes 427 Tuam / Galway route

Burkes Buses have announced two new times on route 427 Tuam to Galway, running from 5 November  2018.

The new buses are at:

• 6:35am from Tuam 
• 6:05pm from Galway.

The company's webiste still lists 5-November as the provisional starting date:  it may be best to check with the company that these buses will be running advertised.

Bus and train services for the October bank holiday weekend 2018

Monday 29 October 2018 is a bank / public holiday in Ireland.

It is also the weekend when most Halloween events happen,  the end of Irish daylight savings time, and there is a race meeting at Ballybrit

Changes to city and county bus and train services for this weekend are summarised below.

Buses to the Galway Races September 2018 meeting

Galway Races early-autumn meeting is on from Monday 16 and Tuesday 15 September 2018.

For this event, there are no shuttle buses from Eyre Square or from surrounding towns.

Instead, egular regional bus services can be used to get to Galway City, and several Galway city buses route buses go from Eyre Square to the Avenue entrance:

• 401 - Ballybrit / Parkmore (previously called route 403) 
• 409 - Parkmore 

See the Parkmore neighbourhood map for details about this entrance

Regular city fares apply, including TaxSaver and Free Travel passes.

Because this is an evening meeting (gates open 2:15pm, first race 4:15pm), traffic is likely to be moderate and the bus services will run as per their timetables - see the Galway city bus summary for links to these.

Galway City bus service changes, September 2018

Bus Éireann have announced a number of improvements to Galway City bus services.

These changes all take effect  from Sunday 16  September 2018.

The major improvements are for Salthill (doubled frequency and through-route buses to Parkmore), and for Newcastle / NUIG / Oranmore (doubled frequency), and earlier Sunday morning buses on all routes.

Information on the main GalwayTransport,info website will be updated to show these changes in the coming days.

Cancellation of bus 403 and extension of bus 401

Bus Éireann have announced that from Sunday 16  September 2017:

• Route 403 - Galway city to Parkmore via Mervue and Castlepark is cancelled.

• Route 401 is extended to travel between Salthill (Rockbarton Rd), Eyre Square and on to Parkmore via Monivea Rd and Castlepark.

August 2018 bank holiday bus and train services in Galway

Monday 6 August 2018 is a bank / public holiday in Ireland. 

This means that public services (banks, government offices, processional offices) will not open, and shops, pubs, cinemas etc are likely to open later than usual.   Tourist attractions will probably operate according to their normal hours.

See below for information about changes to public transport in the region.

Galway Races 2018 shuttle and regular bus services

The information below is for 2018 only.

Click here to see this year's Galway Races transport information.

---

?




The Galway Races Summer Meeting is from Monday 30 July - Sunday 5 August 2018.

This is a summary of the public transport and traffic-management plans.

• Bus Éireann special races shuttle buses will run from Eyre Square.  

• Private bus companies are running special services from various towns and villages.  Some hotels are also organising shuttle services. 

• The route 409 - Parkmore  and route 403 - Ballybrit / Parkmore Industrial city buses go to the racecourse (Avenue entrance).  But there are restrictions during peak racing traffic hours Mon - Fri.

• There are some changes to regular regional buses during race week and the next week.

Timetable and bus-stop changes, route 20/20x - Galway to Dublin via Athlone

Bus Éireann have announced changes to the timetable, route and places served by route 20 / 20x, their service between Galway and Dublin.

These changes are effective from Sunday, 29 July 2018, and the new timetable can be browsed here now.

Overall there are two extra buses each day, Dublin airport is comes after the city centre, and some towns and villages are no longer served by this bus.

Night buses for Galway International Arts Festival

Bus Eireann have announced that they will run a limited number of "night-link" buses for two weekends during the Galway International Arts Festival, 2018.

Dates

These extra buses will run on the nights of

• Friday 20 July
• Saturday 21 July
  and
• Friday 27 July
• Saturday 28 July

Because the extra buses are running after midnight, they are technically on the day after the one listed. Practically, however, most passengers will still think that it is the day which is shown.

Routes and times

Route 404 - Oranmore-Eyre Square-Newcastle

• Buses on this route will run every 30 minutes between 2pm and 7pm (usually every 60 minutes)
• Extra buses will run at 12:05am and 1:05am

Route 409 - GMIT-Parkmore

• Extra buses will run at 12-midnight, 12:30am and 1am

The press release does not state explicitly, but presumably these are the times from Eyre Square, and the buses will also run a return journey 1/2 and hour later than the time shown.

Fares

Regular city bus fares apply, including child, student and free-travel passes.

See details of Galway City bus fares for more information.

Other night buses in Galway

The only other after-midnight buses in Galway is the regular Night-link run between Galway and Athenry by BusLink every Friday, Saturday and bank holiday Monday.   See links to this in the Galway Regional Buses page.

Changes to routes and timetables for buses 411, 412 and 410

City Bus have announced (at 11pm on Sunday 8 July 2018) timetable and route changes for buses 410,411 and 412 timetables - effective from Monday July 9th.

• Route 411 Knocknacarra via Rahoon Road / Rahoon Cemetery no longer goes to Cappagh Road between 8:15am and 5:15pm from Monday thru Friday.   Instead, 411 buses during this time stop at the Western Distributor Road (WDR).
  
  Each route 411 service during this time will leave from the WDR bus stop at the same time they previously left Cappagh Road - the effect is that the bus will run several minutes earlier.  

• Route 410 - Knocknacarra via Salthill becomes a Monday thru Friday service only.   Weekend services are cancelled.

• Route 412 - Knocknacarra to Eyre Square via Western Distributor Road has one additional bus from Cappagh Road at 5:30pm, Monday to Friday.

Further information

The National Transport Authority is the body which is responsible for licensing bus services, and which will have had to approve these changes.

See Galway City Bus Services for information about other services in the area.

Free bus to the Claregalway Garden Festival, 2018

Galway Garden Festival is being held at Claregalway Castle on 7-8 July, 2018, with opening hours from 11am-6pm each day.

The castle is on the N17 at Claregalway, and there are likely to be traffic restrictions and delays.  Limited free parking is available at the castle.

A free Bus will run from Galway Railway station to the Festival at the following times:

• 10:30am
• 12:30pm
• 2:30pm
• 4:30pm

(the printed advertisement says it's a bus once an hour, their website says every two hours).

Admission to the castle grounds is €10 per person, and the day is in support of   The Christian Blind Mission .

Related links

• Regional Buses - for a full list of services to Galway.
• Public transport hubs map - locations of the private bus station and Galway Ceannt Railway Station / Galway Travel Centre. 
• Claregalway neighbourhood map - for amenities in the village

Changes to buses between Galway and Mayo - routes 52 and 456

Bus Eireann have announced a number of changes to bus routes and timetables between Galway and Mayo. 

These are all effective from Sunday 1 July 2018

Changes on route 52  Galway to Ballina - expressway

• This route will have six services in each direction
• The timetable will be the same every day from Monday - Sunday
• The first bus will leave Galway at 7am each day (previously 10:30am)
• The last bus will leave Galway at 9pm each day (previously 6:15pm)
• Variations on the route are removed:  all buses will only stop at GMIT, Claregalway, Tuam, Milltown, Ballindine, Claremorris, Balla, Castlebar, Ballyvary / Balla Cross, Straide, and Foxford
• This route will no longer serve Headford, Glencorrib, Cross, Cong, Neale, Shrule, Kilmaine, Ballinrobe, Partry, Killawalla, Breaffy, Westport, Turlough, Pontoon, Knockmore, Knock, Kiltimagh, Swinford or Foxford Bridge

Changes to Route 456 Galway to Ballina, non-expressway

• This is being split into three separate routes, with timetables designed to interconnect. Overall, more towns and villages will be served, although individual bus-stops in some places will no longer be served.

• The new route 456 Castlebar – Westport – Ballinrobe – Kilmaine – Headford - Galway will have five services each day, with multiple stops. The new timetable is here.
• The new route 420  has three services daily from Castlebar to Ballina& via via Pontoon (and various other places) nbsp; the new timetable is here.
• The new route 422 will have three services daily between Castlebar and Headford via Cong - the new timetable is here.

Route 421 Swinford - Claremorris, via Kiltimagh and Knock

• This is a totally new service.
• It will run seven days a week - but with different times for Mon-Fr, Sat, Sun and bank holidays
• The timetable is designed so passengers can connect to other services at Swinford & Claremorris.  

Buses to the Fever Pitch music festival, 2018

Fever Pitch music festival is behind held at the former Galway Airport site on 2-3 June 2018.

Regular public transport options are very limited: see airport connections to/from Galway for more information.

A shuttle bus service is being run from the Sportsground on College Rd by Naughtons Coaches (091 553188).

Buses start at 12:45pm each day, with the last return journey at 11:15pm after the last act.

Fare is €10 return, and €7 one way, and tickets are available via Facebook.

See the College Rd neighbourhood map for information about getting to the bus stop.

Note that Naughtons are signatories to the NASA initiative – based on this, it is possible that bookings will not be accepted from people aged less than 18.

See Galway Regional Bus services for information about getting to Galway city.

June bank holiday buses and trains in Galway, 2018

Monday 4 June 2018 is a Public / Bank Holiday in Ireland.

A number of public transport services have timetable changes because of this.

The changes in the Galway region are as outlined below.

See also:   public transport for the Fever Pitch music festival.

Citylink Letterfrack timetable change

CityLink have announced that from Monday 21st May 2018, the 11:05am bus from Letterfrack to Galway via Clifden, will leave at the earlier time of 10:25am.

Scheduled arrival time into Galway for this service is still 1:30pm (unchanged).

See regional buses West of Galway for other bus services in the area.

Burkes Buses summer timetable 2018

Burkes Buses have announced that their summer timetable will run from Monday 21 May 2018.

The following services will no longer run:

• 7:30am Tuam to Galway
• 7:55am Tuam to GMIIT
• 5:10pm Tuam to Galway
• 
  
• 9:45am Galway to Tuam
• 1:40pm Galway to Tuam
• 5:10pm GMIT to Tuam 

They will start again for the September college term - exact date is to be advised.

Ed Sheeran in Galway: bus and train services, and road-closures

Pop-music performer, and former Galway street busker, Ed Sheeran is in concert at Pearse Stadium in Salthill on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of May 2018.

To complement the event, venues in the city's Latin Quarter are also running an Ed Fest over the weekend.

Traffic cordon

Due to security and traffic management issues, a large part of Salthill will be restricted to residents vehicles travelling one-way only ( from Threadneedle Road down Doctor Mannix Road and towards the Prom via Rockbarton Road or Dalysfort Road.) between 7pm on Friday 11th and 12 midnight on Sunday 13th.

The area which is affected is shown on this map.   Traffic can still use the roads on the edge of this zone, but access inside it is restricted.   Residents are receiving more detailed maps, and access passes which they can use for this event and for GAA games later in the season.

Darkness into Light 

The annual Darkness into Light walk along Salthill prom is also in the early-morning of Saturday 12th.   

• People travelling to this from Newcastle / Knocknacarra / Westisde will need to go around the traffic cordon.
• There will be less parking than usual as no side-streets in the cordon can be accessed.  

Bus and train services, 11-13 May 2018

Bus Eireann have announced that route 401-Salthill will cover a restricted route between the AIB Eyre Square (bus stop ) and the Aquarium only, running at a 20 minute frequency. (It's likely will run more often at peak times.)

• They didn't give times for this - but the route is likely to apply for the entire cordon period (ie from 7pm on Friday 11th through to the end of Sunday).
• It is likely that they will run buses much more frequently than every 20 minutes before the concerts, and afterwards for people returning to the city-centre.

Note that there is a substantial walk (15+ minutes, much of it uphill) between the Aquarium and Pearse Stadium.   Another option is to catch bus 402-Seacrest / Knocknacarra (map) and walk downhill to Pearse Stadium.


Irish Rail are running an extra train for people travelling home after the concert (12:15am to Athlone, serving all stations), on both days.

CityDirect have announced that the last 410-Knocknacarra via Salthill (map) on Saturday 12th will leave Eyre Square at 4:30pm.  Services on their other routes are not affected, and route 410 does not run on Sundays.

BusLink (Athenry) have announced there will be a NiteLink service to Athenry on the Sunday night / Monday morning. For this buses will leave Eyre Square (across the road from O'Connells) at 8:30pm, 10:30pm, 12:30pm and 2:30am, as well as the regular Saturday Nitelink service.

Burkes Buses (Tuam) have announced that they are not running any special services for these concerts.  However they to run a regular service to Galway on both Saturday and Sunday, and may have buses available for private hire.

May bank holiday bus and train services for 2018

Monday 7 May 2018 is a public holiday and bank holiday  (Saoire Bainc na Bealtaine) in Ireland.

Bank, public services and government departments will be closed on Monday 7 May.  Most shops will keep their regular Sunday hours on Monday the 7th also.

Below is a summary of the public transport services in the Galway metropolitan area during this weekend.

Bus and train services for Easter 2018

Easter this year is from Friday 30 March  -  Monday 2 April 2018.

Good Friday (the 14th) is a bank holiday but not a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland:  All banks and many public services (eg post-office) are closed, and some other companies treat the day like a public holiday and close anyway.   However most public-transport run normal services, with a few exceptions.

Following a recent law change this is the first year when all pubs, hotel bars and off-licenses are allowed to be open on Good Friday if they usually open on Fridays.   Anecdotal feedback is that most, but not all, will open,

Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday are not public holidays:  usual Sat / Sun timetables generally apply.

Easter Monday is a public holiday and a bank holiday, and in most cases Sunday services will be run.

Information from specific bus and train companies is summarised below.  Always confirm details with the company.  Bookings are recommended, because there are a number of events happening this weekend.

Buses and trains on St Patrick's Day / Weekend, 2018

Information below is correct for 2018.

Click here for up-to-date information.

Weekly Lidl shopping bus for Corrib Village

NUIG's Student's Union have announced that they are running a free bus from Corrib Village to the Lidl supermarket on the Headford Road on Monday evenings, starting Monday 26 February 2018.

This is similar to the supermarket service which operates in some other Irish cities.

It is only open to students (not yet clear if it's only Corrib Village residents, or if other NUIG students can use it), because it not a licensed public bus service.

The service:
Leaves from Corrib Village at 6pm
Leaves from Lidl at 7.30pm

Presumably it will operate during term-time only.

See also

• Supermarkets in Galway - for the location of other supermarkets
• University neighbourhood map - for other amenities in the NUIG area
• City bus service details

Extra buses on Burkes Tuam route 427

Burkes Buses have announced that they are adding 10 extra services to their timetable, effective from this week.

They have not published the times of the new services as yet,which are presumably 2 per day, Monday - Friday. 

As at now, the services shown on their timetable are:

Tuam to Galway times

07:00
07:20
07:45
*07:50 - to UHG and NUIG
**07:55 - to GMIT during termtimes
*08:30 - to UHG and NUIG
09:05
10:00
10:50
12:00
13:10
14:10
16:10
17:10
18:10 - added Oct 2017
19:10 - added Oct 2017

Galway to Tuam times

08:00
09:05
10:05
10:50
12:10
13:10
14:10
15:30
16:10
16:40
17:10
**17:10
17:40
18:20
19:10
21:10